


chasing forever

by sodelicate



Series: your voice in my dreams (soulmates AU) [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Declarations Of Love, Eventual kissing, Falling In Love, Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Pining, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmates, a double date somehow became a team date idk, kenma somehow became lev's love guru, lev is the number one kuroken shipper, yaku is a tsundere
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 14:29:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16976325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sodelicate/pseuds/sodelicate
Summary: "There is a small bubble of envy in Lev. He wishes he and Yaku have what Kuroo and Kenma have — the familiarity, the simple state of justbeingsoulmates without having to worry about it, and the ease with which they interact with each other. He wants that with Yaku.Well, he’s not gonna get anything done if he just stands around and yearns for something that he doesn’t have right now. If he wants something, he’s gonna work for it. Just like how he’s working hard to earn the ‘Ace’ title, he’s going to work hard to win Yaku-senpai over."In which Lev tries everything he can—buying flowers, buying ice cream, annoying Kenma into giving him advice—to win Yaku over and convince him that he's worth his while. Each endeavour meets... varying degrees of success.





	chasing forever

**Author's Note:**

> this one is based on a [tumblr request](https://hqissodelicate.tumblr.com/post/181079275537/if-you-dont-mind-could-i-request-levyaku) for anything with LevYaku, so i decided to add this to this soulmates AU. this takes place in the same timeline as the [KuroKen one](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16677271), but no knowledge of 'forever ahead of us' is needed to read this. enjoy!

Haiba Lev is a huge hopeless romantic. He blames his big sister. Alisa has been together with her soulmate—a handsome model just a year older than her—for about five years, and the two of them are the absolute  _cutest_. There’s also the fact that she and Lev regularly marathon American romance comedies and/or dramas every Friday night. The idea of soulmates, that there is one special person you’re  _meant_  to be with for your whole life—and no one else could take that place—is just so sweet and romantic.

He can’t wait to meet his soulmate. He has heard his soulmate’s voice in his dreams enough times to kind of figure out what kind of person his soulmate is. His soulmate is a guy (having a soulmate the same sex as you is not all that common but also not all that rare) and he seems like a nice and caring, if a little short-tempered, kind of person. Lev thinks it’s cute, that his soulmate is so complex. People are so wonderful and complex. Lev loves people, but he already loves his soulmate even more, even if he hasn’t  _officially_  met the guy yet. It doesn’t matter that he hasn’t meet him yet, he insists whenever the topic comes up; he knows with all his heart that he’s going to love his wonderful soulmate with everything he has, and then some more.

Still, he has been getting a little antsy as of late. Since he just graduated from junior high, he is currently looking at his options of potential high schools. He hopes high school will hold a better chance of him meeting his soulmate, which is why he’s carefully sifting through his options to see which one his soulmate is most likely attending/will be attending (his soulmate never says important information in his dreams, like his name, age or school—only miscellaneous things like what he had for his breakfast or calling a guy named Kuroo out on his bullshit). Many people, like his parents, have told him not to make his decision solely based on the likelihood of meeting his soulmate, but he can’t help it. Alisa met her soulmate in junior high, and his parents were childhood sweethearts. Half of his junior high friends have already met their soulmates. He feels like the only one left behind in the dust, without a soulmate of his own.

In the end, he decides on Nekoma High. It’s near home, it has good facilities and an art programme that he’s interested in, as well as a pretty strong volleyball team. He’s been thinking of getting into volleyball lately, after attending a friend’s match.

What a wonderful decision that turns out to be, when he bounds into his high school gym and hears that amazing and familiar voice.

 

* * *

 

“Yaku Morisuke,” Lev’s soulmate says, sounding reluctant and maybe even a little skeptical, though Lev doesn’t see what there is to be skeptical about. “Third-year, libero.”

“I’m Haiba Lev!” Lev sunnily introduces himself. “And I’m your soulmate!”

“I… could tell.”

“Wow.” Lev takes a good look at Yaku—he’s  _really_  cute. He has the softest-looking light brown hair with matching eyes. And he’s  _tiny_ , much to Lev’s adoration. From the way he was scolding Kuroo (who turns out to be the smirking, intimidating-looking captain whose hair appears like it doesn’t know what a comb is) in Lev’s dreams, Lev has been expecting someone more imposing in stature. But this is so much better. Lev wants to hold him, protect him and never let go of him. “Wow, you sounded a lot taller in my dreams, Yaku-senpai!”

A terrifying, demon-like scowl flashes across Yaku’s face. Before Lev can consider  _why_ , Yaku whirls around and slams his foot harshly against Lev’s backside. He yelps and leaps away, holding his sore butt gingerly.

“What was  _that_ about?” Lev whines, earning himself a glare from Yaku.

“Look, Ruskie,” Kuroo says with a shake of his head. “Rule number one of the Nekoma Boys’ Volleyball Club is that we don’t talk about Yaku’s height, or that’ll happen to you.”

“But why?” Lev pouts. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way! It’s actually super cute—”

“Enough talk about my height!” Yaku barks, the tips of his ears flaming red. “You don’t know the first thing about volleyball, do you? Then go join the other first-years by the side. Naoi-sensei will attend to you shortly. Everyone else, get warmed up!”

Kuroo rolls his eyes. “Excuse you, have you forgotten who’s Captain?”

“Well, if you weren’t gonna do it then  _someone_  has to pick up your slack,” Yaku snaps, storming off to do his stretches.

Kuroo raises his hands, as if in surrender. “Dude, don’t take your anger out on me. It wasn’t my idea that your soulmate came barrelling in all like  _‘hey what’s up hello’_.”

Yaku ignores him.

With nothing else to do, Lev awkwardly trots over to where several of the other first-years are. His high spirits from  _finally_  meeting his soulmate have dampened somewhat. Yaku-senpai is upset about something, that’s for sure. And he’s finding it hard to be happy when his soulmate clearly is not.

 _But why? Did I do something to piss him off?_  Lev wonders. But what could he have done? All he did was introduce himself and—well, he  _did_ call Yaku short. But he didn’t mean it as an insult, honest! He genuinely thinks it’s the most endearing thing ever.

After practice, he goes home in a sad slump. While he’s picking up the basics of volleyball fast, which is good, Yaku didn’t want to talk to him after practice. When Lev approached him, he muttered something about babysitting before zooming out of the gym. Now, he is 100% convinced that he has completely and irreversibly messed things up between him and his one and only. And after all the wonderful, romantic fantasies he has had of him and his soulmate too! In his imagination, their first meeting would be the most magical first meeting ever, a first meeting like no other. There would be a choir of angels singing holy worship to his soulmate’s name, flowers blooming in every nook and cranny and the scent of roses and cinnamon wafting in from somewhere.

But that didn’t happen, and he only has his foot-in-mouth syndrome to blame.

“Lyovochka!” Alisa cries out worriedly when he slumps into the house. “What’s wrong? Did something happen at school?”

Lev dumps his bag on the floor and flops on the couch next to Alisa. “I met my soulmate today.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful! But shouldn’t you sound happier, then? You’ve always been so eager about meeting your soulmate.”

“Yeah, but I messed it up ‘cause I called him short and he took it as an insult,” Lev mumbles into his favourite throw cushion.

“It can’t be that bad,” Alisa says. She pats his head soothingly. “Not everyone gets off on a good footing with their soulmate on the first meeting. When I first met Itsuki-kun, I accidentally told him he was tall for a Japanese boy.” Her cheeks redden. “Ah, that was so embarrassing! He was really offended at first—and rightfully so—but now he keeps teasing me about it. See, it’s not so bad! He was able to put it behind him and even make it into a joke. Just apologise for it and don’t do it again. That’s what I did, and now look at us! We’ve been together for five years and are still going strong! So just talk to him. I’m sure you two will be fine.”

“I… I don’t know. He seemed kinda cold and standoffish after that. It’s not gonna be easy to talk to him about it.”

Alisa pats his head again. “It’s never easy to talk about awkward encounters, especially if it’s your first time. But if you’re serious about your soulmate, then it’s something you have to learn to do.”

Lev perks up. Serious about his soulmate… yeah, he’s serious about his soulmate! He’s been serious about his soulmate even before they met! He can  _so_ do this.

“Okay, I’ll do that!” he chirps. “Thank you, Alisa-nee!”

Alisa smiles fondly at him. “You’re always welcome. Now, shall we continue with our  _How I Met Your Mother_  marathon?”

 

* * *

 

On his way to school, Lev spots a familiar figure in the distance. His heart leaps into his throat, excited yet incredibly nervous. He’s delighted at seeing his soulmate again after an extremely long weekend, but—well, he’s afraid of Yaku-senpai’s temper. Apparently, according to Yamamoto-san, everyone on the team, even the captain, is afraid of Yaku when he’s angry. Lev has to wonder if Yaku is still mad about the comment about his height.

Lev jogs to catch up with his soulmate. “Yaku-senpai, Yaku-senpai, Yaku-senpai!”

Yaku whirls around like a startled cat. “Gah, you again? What do you want?”

Lev thrusts the bouquet of gloxinia flowers he just bought at Yaku. “I’m so sorry for calling you short and offending you, Yaku-senpai! I’m very sorry! Please take these flowers—they’re the prettiest I could find."

Yaku stares dubiously at the purple and red flowers. “… Gloxinia flowers aren’t usually, like, apology flowers,” he says, slow and hesitant. Is it just Lev’s imagination, or is Yaku actually  _blushing?_  It’s an adorable look on him.

“Oh, really?” Lev asks blithely. “I didn’t really think about meaning or anything—I just saw that they were pretty and so I thought I’d buy some for you. Hey hey, do  _you_ know what gloxinia flowers mean, Yaku-senpai?”

Yaku’s cheeks flush a darker red. “What—do I look like a walking flower wiki to you?! Search it up yourself!” But he takes the flowers anyway, forcefully like they did him a personal grievance. He continues walking ahead towards their school. Lev scampers next to him like an eager puppy.

“Soooo… has Yaku-senpai forgiven me?” Lev ventures. “If not, I can apologise ten more times—as many times as you want! Or if you want it written, I can do that too. Or sing, but I’m not really good at singing. Maybe I can do an interpretive dance—”

“God,  _no_ ,” Yaku interjects, sounding scandalised. “I don’t need to see a ridiculous behemoth like you attempt to dance.”

Lev pouts. “I’m pretty good at it! I’ve done it before, ‘cause Alisa-nee signed me up for classes with her and her soulmate—which, I have to say, gave me a major case of third-wheel-ness. I can demonstrate for you!”

“No no  _no_ , you’re forgiven, okay? I forgive you, you big idiot. Now stop talking about dancing already!”

“Okay!” Lev hums happily. The weight that was tied around his heart is a lot lighter now.

As they walk together to school, Lev interviews Yaku about pretty much everything he’s been dying to know about him but his dreams never told him, to which Yaku replies (with some degree of trepidation that Lev doesn’t quite get but is in too good of a mood to ask)—his career aspirations (he’s thinking of being a coach and/or a teacher), his favourite childhood memory (a family trip to an onsen in Hakone when he was eleven), his favourite ice cream flavour (strawberry cheesecake), among other important facts.

“Strawberry cheesecake—my sister likes that too!” Lev gushes excitedly as they climb the stairs to their classrooms. Lev’s is on the second while Yaku’s is on the third. “For their anniversaries, her soulmate always buys her a gigantic tub of strawberry cheesecake ice cream. It’s  _so_ romantic.”

Yaku makes a face. “That doesn’t sound very healthy. I only eat it once in a while, as a treat after working hard.”

Lev feels a soft smile spread across his face. “Ahh, Yaku-senpai is so cool!”

“Wha—how’s that cool? It’s just called eating in moderation, that’s all. We’re athletes. We have to maintain a healthy diet.”

 _Extremely cool,_  Lev thinks decisively yet dreamily to himself.  _My soulmate is the coolest soulmate ever._

A few moments pass in silence. Lev pauses at the landing of the second floor, while Yaku starts taking the stairs to the third. Lev stares at Yaku’s quietly retreating form, desperately racking his brain for something to say.

_Something cool. Or maybe something sweet and romantic._

So he blurts out. “Hey, I can still do that apology dance for you—”

“Shut up and go to class already!”

 

* * *

 

Several weeks pass since Lev’s fateful meeting with Yaku, and now here they are at the team’s Golden Week training camp. Lev is so excited; he’s never attended a Golden Week training camp before.  _And_ he’ll be spending it with Yaku-senpai, too! Life is great, Lev happily remarks to himself.

A brutal round of receiving practice ends. Panting from the exertion, Lev drags his feet to where his water bottle is and takes generous gulps of it. Ah, training is so tough, but it’s worth it because he’s gonna be the Ace! He’s going to work really hard, like how Yaku-senpai works so hard too, so he can be the team’s reliable Ace. Someone has to take the role once Yamamoto-san graduates, so it might as well be him.

Yaku stands by the bench, wiping his sweat away with his right hand. His left hand hangs freely by his side. Huh, now  _that_ gives Lev an idea. He knows soulmates usually touch each other a lot as a show of affection. Well,  _romantic_ soulmates, who take up majority of the population, do. (Platonic soulmates—3% of Japan’s population—touch one another as much as normal friends do, Lev imagines.) And if there is anything he’s sure about, it is that he has some very romantic feelings for Yaku, which  _has_  to mean they’re romantic soulmates, right?

Anyway, back to his original idea. Touching Yaku. They are romantic soulmates, romantic soulmates tend to touch each other a lot, so making some sort of physical contact seems like the logical sequence of progression. He doesn’t think it would be  _too_  forward. It has been about a month since they met, and they have gotten to know each other better during their walks to school, after all.

 _Just be smooth, Lev. You’ve got this,_  he tells himself.

He sidles over to where Yaku is cluelessly wiping away his sweat. As casually as he can, he reaches out and grabs Yaku’s (smaller,  _much_  smaller) hand in his, intertwining their fingers. Yaku jolts like Lev just crept up behind him and screamed nonsense in his ear. He wrenches his hand out of Lev’s and whirls around to glare up at him.

“Just what do you think you’re doing, you Russian idiot?!” Yaku yells, red-faced.

“Holding hands!” Lev chirps. He’s confused; why  _wouldn’t_  Yaku-senpai want to hold hands? They  _are_  romantic soulmates, no? Romantic soulmates hold hands, no?

“Just because we’re soulmates doesn’t mean you can grab my hand as and when you want to!”

Lev cocks his head to the side. “Huh, why not?”

“Moron, it’s ‘cause I didn’t give my  _consent!_ ” Yaku fumes. “If I didn’t say ‘yes’, then you can’t touch me, simple as that!”

“But I didn’t ask, so—”

Yaku’s glare deepens, and Lev gets the distinct feeling that he’s said something very wrong. “And that’s even worse! If I’m not given the chance to give consent, then I  _didn’t_ consent—even for something as seemingly trivial as hand-holding. So ask next time before you go around grabbing my hand!”

Lev’s heart plummets to his gut. “O-oh. I’m sorry, Yaku-senpai.”

Yaku mutters something under his breath, then stalks off to talk to Kai.

Dejected and left with nothing to do (and no hand to hold), Lev glances around the gym. His gaze falls on where Kuroo and Kenma are talking. Kuroo is laughing at something, and Kenma actually has a small smile on his face. Now,  _that’s_  rare. It’s hard enough as it is to get Kenma to smile on any given occasion, and Kuroo is the only one on the team who can get Kenma to smile on a regular basis.

 _It must be because they’re soulmates,_  Lev remembers. He watches as Kuroo pats Kenma on the head before walking off to join his fellow third-years, an idea forming in his head. If there is anyone else on the team who knows what it's like to have your soulmate as your teammate, it’s Kenma.

Rejuvenated by this brilliant realisation, Lev bounds over to Kenma, who flinches upon spotting him.

“Kenma-san, Kenma-san!” Lev calls.

“No, I’m not tossing to you, I’m done for today,” Kenma hurriedly interjects before Lev can say anything.

“No, no, it’s not about extra practice," Lev says. “I wanted to ask you about something else. It’s about soulmates.”

Kenma sighs, heavy and none too subtle, through his nose. “Must  _I_ be the one to answer you?”

“Please? Yaku-senpai is mad at me again, Captain-san would probably just smirk at me and say some weird parable-sounding thing. You’re the only person on the team who has already met his soulmate, so you’re the only one who can answer my question.”

“Kai has met his,” Kenma counters.

Lev pouts. “Yeah, but his soulmate’s a girl and not a teammate. Your soulmate’s a guy on the team too, so you’d understand me!”

“Ugh, fine, make your question quick, then leave me alone.”

“Yay, thank you, Kenma-san! You’re the best senpai—er, second-best. Yaku-senpai is the best—” He sees Kenma’s glare and quickly asks his question, not wanting to risk Kenma-san’s wrath. “So, I think Yaku-senpai hasn’t really warmed up to me, which sucks. I want him to warm up to me, but I don’t know how to do that. You have a soulmate; how did you woo Kuroo-san? Or did he woo you? Or did you two woo  _each other?_  Ooh, was it a competition?”

“Kuro and I—we didn't…  _woo_ each other, per se,” Kenma says slowly, like he’s carefully choosing his words. “We just… are. As far as I know, we both just accepted the fact that we’re soulmates and continued doing our thing.” He waves his hand vaguely.

“Wait, wait, wait, you had it so easy? No fair!” Lev whines.

Kenma half-shrugs. “Eh, it has its own… frustrations. But I think in your case—look, I think you just have to take it slowly. From Yaku’s perspective, it probably looks like you’re trying to shove this whole soulmates business down his throat without really listening to what he wants, so just take it slow. Instead of trying to jump straight into the soulmates thing, chase him a little. Be patient and give him time to warm up to you.”

“Yeah,” Kuroo, popping up from nowhere, drawls. He slings a casual arm around Kenma’s shoulders. “It’s only been, what, a month? Slow your roll a little there. You guys still have forever together, so there’s no need for you to be all like, ‘we gotta get this shit done now now  _now_ ’.”

“That’s what I said,” Kenma huffs without much heat.

“Yeah, but I said it better.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did.”

There is something so familiar and domestic about the way Kuroo and Kenma interact that it tugs on Lev’s heartstrings. So this is what childhood sweethearts look like. It’s every bit as adorable as Lev has imagined it would be. There is a small bubble of envy in Lev. He wishes he and Yaku have what Kuroo and Kenma have—the familiarity, the simple state of just  _being_ soulmates without having to worry about it, and the ease with which they interact with each other. He wants that with Yaku.

Well, he’s not gonna get anything done if he just stands around and yearns for something that he doesn’t have right now. If he wants something, he’s gonna work for it. Just like how he’s working hard to earn the ‘Ace’ title, he’s going to work hard to win Yaku-senpai over.

 

* * *

 

Lev carries out his wooing of Yaku using several innovative strategies.

On Monday during lunch break, he bursts into Yaku’s classroom and—in front of his whole class—animatedly performs a formal introduction of himself, complete with random facts about himself like his shoe size, favourite American rom-com and which country he thinks will win the World Cup this year. It doesn’t go very well, unfortunately. Lev just barely gets through his fifth fact before Yaku, blushing furiously, kicks Lev out of his classroom (which is full of Yaku’s whispering and giggling classmates).

“Go back to your class and eat a proper lunch instead of wasting your breath here!” Yaku yells. “And don’t just randomly invite yourself into the third-years’ classrooms!”

Seeing as formally introducing himself as a suitor was a no-go, Lev attempts other endeavours. He buys Yaku a box full of tubs of strawberry cheesecake ice cream (Yaku mutters something about Lev wasting his money and insists on splitting the tubs of ice cream half-half with him), buys him beautiful bouquets of flowers that consist of flowers like classic roses, red carnations and ambrosias (Yaku runs his hand through his hair and refuses to meet Lev’s eyes when he takes the flowers) and holds the door for him (once only, though, because Yaku yells at him for being condescending—“I can open doors on my own, so there’s no need for you to run a marathon all the way from the main school building to the gym just to open the door for me!”).

Only the flowers really saw any success. Even then, Yaku is starting to accept them with growing reluctance.

“I’m running out of vases to put these damn flowers in,” Yaku grumbles when accepting the eleventh bouquet from Lev’s eager hands. “And they’re a pain to take care of, especially when they start dying.”

He rejects the twelfth bouquet, citing that he’s run out of vases and the petals keep dropping everywhere.

“And save your money!” Yaku adds. “Stop frivolously spending money on stupid things like flowers. Flowers die anyway. Save your money for more long-lasting things.”

So… Lev isn’t sure if he has made progress with Yaku. Yaku hasn’t outright  _rejected_  him, which he takes as a good thing. But he’s also tried doing more physical things with Yaku, like hand-holding, and he’s gotten rejected each time.

Completely out of ideas, Lev decides to consult Kenma again.

“Tossing or soulmate business again?” Kenma asks wearily.

“Soulmate stuff,” Lev says with a pout. “He still doesn’t want to do touchy things."

“Look, Lev, he doesn’t owe you physical intimacy just ‘cause you bought fancy flowers for him.”

“I know that, but…” Lev flails helplessly. “It would really be nice to stop getting rejected so much.”

Kenma eyes him with a degree of suspicion. “You know, it’s kinda in bad taste to keep pursuing someone—even if they’re your soulmate—if they’ve rejected you.  _Repeatedly_.”

“But that’s the thing—he hasn’t rejected  _me_ , specifically! He’s never said he wanted to quit being soulmates or anything like that. He—he just doesn’t want to touch me, apparently,” Lev says glumly.

“Look, Yaku rejecting your physical advances isn’t something set in stone. Just ‘cause he doesn’t want to do ‘touchy’ things with you doesn’t mean he  _never_ would want to. He’s probably just shy about it.”

“Ah, like a tsundere!”

Kenma’s lips twitch. “Don’t let him hear you say that, or he might actually reject you for real. Anyway, he probably just needs more time to warm up to you, that’s all. But that doesn't mean you should keep pestering him if he doesn't want to, obviously."

“But how much longer does he need?” Lev whines. “I’ve already tried the chasing thing, and that didn’t work out so well. I bought him flowers and ice cream and everything!”

Kenma raises his eyes to the heavens like he’s asking why  _he_  has to deal with Lev, of all people. “Maybe you’re going about it the wrong way. You’re chasing him the way a guy would chase a girl in the west, and that’s not the case here. You’re both in Japan, and you’re both guys. You shouldn’t watch western romance dramas if you want an accurate idea of how to court your soulmate here in Japan.”

“Then how should I court him the proper way?”

“Group dates,” Kenma suggests with a clear note of reluctance in his tone. “He’s probably guarded around you ‘cause every time you tried to chase him, it’s always just been the two of you alone. He might feel more comfortable in a group setting.”

“Group dates don’t sound very romantic,” Lev says doubtfully. “And not very, like, personal either.”

“You don’t have to take my advice, obviously. I don’t really care, as long as you leave me alone—”

“Mm, thank you, Kenma-san! That’s some really good advice—I should act on it.”

“Whatever…”

Lev flops down on the gym floor next to Kenma. “Man, you have it so easy with Captain-san. You’re so lucky that you both just know that you want each other."

Kenma lets out a tiny, almost imperceptible sigh. “Some days, I wonder if Kuro even knows that I want him and vice versa,” he mutters, as if he doesn’t intend for Lev to hear, but Lev catches it anyway.

Lev blinks, confused. “Then… why don’t you just tell him? It should be easy, since you two have known each other for ever. Just go up to him and tell him.”

“I  _could_ , but it’s pretty entertaining to see how long he’ll go clueless to both my feelings and his own feelings, and insisting that we’re  _platonic_ soulmates.” A small smile dances on the corners of Kenma’s lips, one that only appears when Kuroo is around or when he’s talking about Kuroo.

“And… you’re okay with him thinking you guys are platonic soulmates even though you totally have romantic feelings for him?” Lev asks dubiously.

Kenma shrugs. “I’m fine with what we have now. Besides, whether our relationship is platonic or romantic, all I need to know is that Kuro isn’t going anywhere, and he isn’t.”

Huh, Kuroo-san isn’t going anywhere without Kenma-san. Lev wishes he could say the same about him and Yaku, except now he gets the feeling that his window to woo Yaku is limited, before Yaku decides he wants to go somewhere without Lev.

 

* * *

 

Lev’s  _original_ plan was to take Yaku on a nice double date with Kuroo and Kenma. They would go bowling, then catch a movie (Lev would ask Yaku for permission before attempting those cute cuddling things people do during movies) and afterwards eat some greasy fast food.

Somehow, the entire Nekoma team plus a few non-teammate soulmates decide to crash the date.

(Lev suspects it has something to do with the Captain, who probably didn’t even realise it was supposed to be a date or didn’t really care otherwise.)

Still, Lev is undeterred. Sure, there may be way more people than anticipated, but then again this  _is_ supposed to be a  _group_ date. He can work with this. He still can woo Yaku-senpai in a group setting. He definitely has this in the bag.

Everyone decides to crash a ramen place near the school, and they comfortably spread themselves across two booths. Kuroo offers to treat everyone—“Since I’ve always been such a nice captain”—which explains why the two booths are practically creaking under the weight of all the bowls and dishes of food. The team takes great delight in helping their captain slim his wallet down.

Lev finds himself sandwiched between Kenma and Kai’s soulmate (a petite and pretty third-year girl) and opposite from the third-years. So, this is basically Lev’s original plan, except it’s kinda a triple-date now plus an assortment of teammates. Lev watches Yaku heartily digs into his tonkatsu ramen, forgetting his own bowl of steaming ramen. Yaku seems far more relaxed now. He’s cheerfully bantering with Kai’s soulmate and Kuroo, and his whole posture appears more open. Lev breathes a quiet sigh of relief. He’s glad he took Kenma’s advice, because Yaku seems less tense now than he was when it was just him and Lev alone.

But Lev also feels a small stab of sadness at that thought. If Yaku is only comfortable with him in a group setting, how will they progress on to spending one-on-one time together? Lev would really like that. Private dates—just two people in love holding hands and walking on the beach, stealing chaste kisses at night, hugging in an empty street—always look so cute and romantic in those American TV shows. He has plenty of private-date ideas he’d like to try with Yaku—only with his consent, of course. Lev has learned his lesson about consent.

As if guessing what he’s thinking, Kenma elbows him and mutters, “Don’t overthink this, stay grounded in reality and remember to take. It. Slow.”

“Yes, Kenma-san!” Lev replies, far louder than Kenma’s mutter, earning himself odd looks from the rest of the table.

“What are you two crazy cats whispering about?” Kuroo asks in a lazy drawl. “Care to spill the tea?”

“You better not be bothering Kenma,” Yaku says warningly.

“I’m not!” Lev insists. “I’m not bothering Kenma-san at all.”

“We’re not whispering about anything, and there’s no tea to spill,” Kenma says.

“Oh really? Could have fooled me.”

“Then be fooled.”

Kuroo dramatically splays a hand over his chest. “Oh kitten, back at it with the jibes again.”

Still, despite his theatrics, there’s a soft and open expression on Kuroo’s face as he watches Kenma from across the table. For all his smirking and wisecracks, his feelings are a pretty open book to read—which is saying something, if someone like  _Lev_ has noticed them. It really is incredibly sweet how much the captain loves Kenma, even if he himself doesn’t realise it. Lev’s heart clenches; he wishes Kuroo knew, because Lev—thanks to all the American rom-coms he has watched—is a huge shipper and all he wants is for people who love each other so much to realise that and be together.

Kenma, on the other hand, wears a perfectly neutral expression as he focuses on eating his ramen. Lev figures he’d be able to read Kenma’s feelings better if he were someone closer to him, like the captain (except Kuroo doesn’t seem to notice Kenma’s feelings for him either, though Lev isn’t sure if that’s anyone’s fault but Kuroo’s). Lev watches a small, unusually gentle smile dance on Kuroo’s lips when Kenma quietly sneezes, and he wonders if he looks at Yaku like that too.

(He wonders if Yaku looks at him like that too.)

(He isn’t so sure.)

Dessert comes around, and to Lev’s amusement, Yaku has ordered his favourite strawberry cheesecake ice cream.

“Ooh, is Yaku-senpai finally eating his ice cream?” Lev asks eagerly. “But you always act like such a tsundere whenever I buy you ice cream!”

Yaku rolls his eyes. “That’s because you spend exorbitant amounts of money on it. I’m not sure what you think I can do with fifteen tubs of ice cream, Lev.”

“You… eat them? Like, I know you have your athlete’s diet thing and all, but you should treat yourself more, because you work so hard and you’re so cool, Yaku-senpai!”

He isn’t sure why Yaku’s ears redden, or why Kuroo bursts out laughing. He’s just stating what he thinks. It can’t be  _that_  embarrassing and/or funny, right?

Lev is half-expecting some sort of snappy retort, so he’s pleasantly surprised when Yaku just mutters, “Yeah, whatever.”

After the meal which Kuroo generously pays for, Lev and Yaku (somehow) end up separated from the rest of the group on their walk to the train station. As it was just raining earlier, the air outside is cool and crisp. Lev watches Yaku rub his palms together, as if trying to warm himself up, and without thinking he blurts out, “Yaku-senpai, do you want to hold hands? I mean, ‘cause it’s cold and all that, and you look like you’re cold.”

Yaku’s eyes widen, like Lev said something scandalous. A smattering of red blooms across his cheekbones as he mutters, “… Fine, but don’t get carried away, first-year.”

Lev blinks, not daring to believe what he heard. “Wa-wait, so… so you  _actually_ want to hold hands with me?”

“Well, if you’re not going to do anything I’ll just keep my hands to myself, that’s alright too,” Yaku huffs, glancing away from Lev.

Fireworks go off in Lev’s heart. Yaku-senpai wants to hold hands! Finally, after so much waiting and chasing and pining, he finally gets to hold his soulmate’s hand! He grins like a child on Christmas, grabbing Yaku’s calloused hand in his larger one.

They don’t go any further than hand-holding that evening, but that’s fine with Lev. Any amount of progress is alright with him. He’s content with this, with Yaku by his side and his hand in his.

 

* * *

 

Gradually, Lev and Yaku start going on less group dates and more one-on-one dates, much to Lev’s delight. They do a number of things on their dates—they go bowling (Yaku, with less physical strength but more finesse, out-strikes him), they watch movies (Lev barely pays attention to the actual movie, too occupied with the small warm body pressed against his side in the couple’s seat in the cinema), and they visit some of Yaku’s favourite shrines. Yaku says he wants to pray for the team to do their best in the upcoming tournament, as well as for his fellow third-years to treasure their time left in high school before graduation. While Yaku has his eyes closed and hands clamped, Lev thinks about what he would like to pray for. He has never been particularly religious, but he feels like he has many things to pray for—many things to ask for, and many things to be grateful for.

In the end, he decides to pray a prayer of thanks for having met his soulmate this year and that Yaku has somewhat warmed up to him (even if he’s still a bit iffy about going anywhere further than hugging), as well as a prayer for guidance—guidance for him and Yaku as they navigate their relationship. They had a shaky start, but now Lev thinks they’re in a relatively better place now, and he hopes he can try and maintain this for as long as he can. They still have forever together, after all.

Truth be told, however, he is not all too sure where he stands with Yaku. Yaku-senpai is strange, a true tsundere. He acts all huffy and snappy (though, admittedly, that’s usually because Lev made some remark about his height), but he has never straight-up shot Lev down. Sometimes, he even initiates physical contact between them, though rarely.

Lev isn’t sure what this means, but he is afraid to ask—afraid of breaking the momentum they’ve gathered, and maybe just afraid of the answer. Like, what if Yaku-senpai is just putting up with him only because destiny  _says_ they’re meant to be? Lev has heard horror stories of people simply not clicking with their soulmates because of conflicting views and personalities they can’t get past, and while some of them ultimately break off their union, others quietly put up with their soulmate no matter how much they can’t stand them.

Lev hopes this isn’t the case between him and Yaku. He really,  _really_  likes Yaku. He’s so caring and hardworking, and he’s kinda cute when he goes into tsundere mode. And it’s also the little things he does that makes Lev turn to mush: the way he musses his hair when he’s flustered, the way his smile lights up when Lev asks him about his aspiration of being a coach and/or teacher, even the way he rolls his eyes at the team’s antics. He doesn’t want Yaku to have to be  _resigned_ to putting up with him for the rest of their lives—and Lev, at the wide-eyed age of sixteen, knows he’s going to be spending the rest of his life with Yaku—because he wants Yaku to be happy too.

He just wishes he knows whether Yaku truly  _likes_ -likes him.

“Oi Lev, think fast!” Yaku’s voice snaps him out of his reverie.

“Huh?” Lev glances up in time to see a volleyball hurtle towards him. His arms shoot up, but he’s not fast enough, so the ball bounces lamely off the court.

“Get your head in the game, first-year!” Yaku berates him. “If this were an actual game, we would’ve lost that set. So focus!”

“Sorry, Yaku-senpai! One more—”

“Practice is over, so next time, Lev-kun,” Coach Nekomata says, though not unkindly. “You have made leaps and bounds in improvement in terms of skills, though your focus seems to have wavered quite a bit today. If you want to be the next Ace, you need to tighten your focus.”

Lev nods eagerly. “Yes, Coach!” He  _will_  be the Ace. He just did a bad job concentrating today—but next practice, he will  _definitely_ focus on improving his play.

Now that practice is over for the day, the rest of the team heads to the side for a drink of water and a breather. Lev, on the other hand, is still buzzing with energy. Maybe it’s the fact that he didn’t do his best during practice earlier, but he just has so much pent-up energy that needs an outlet.

He spots Kenma seated cross-legged on the floor, wiping his sweat away with a sports towel, and he sees an opportunity.

“Kenma-san! Kenma-san!” Lev calls excitedly as he capers towards the setter. Kenma glances up with a scowl at the sound of his name. “Toss for me, please! I think I’ve gotten a hang of the timing now!”

“No,” Kenma says in a flat tone. He scoots a few inches away from Lev, to Lev’s hurt and disappointment. “Ask Teshiro.”

“Aww, please, Kenma-san? I wanna practise with you ‘cause you’re the starting setter! Please, just five tosses!”

Kenma glares up at him, and Lev flinches slightly. For someone so quiet, Kenma-san can be pretty darn frightening when angry.

“Fine, fine, three tosses,” Lev amends. He figures three tosses is better than nothing, even if it’s not the five he wants.

Before Kenma can accept his invitation (hopefully), Yamamoto says, “Oi Lev, stop bothering Kenma, man, or the captain’s not gonna be happy. He’s  _scary_ when he gets protective of Kenma.”

Huh? Why would Kuroo-san not be happy? It’s not like Lev has… oh no. Horror fills Lev as the realisation dawns on him.

 _Is… is the captain jealous ‘cause I keep talking to Kenma-san?_  Lev worries.  _Like, that time at the restaurant during the group date, he asked what Kenma-san and I were talking about—was he jealous? But will he even get jealous if he doesn’t know he’s in love with Kenma-san?_

Regardless of whether or not Kuroo is jealous, he still has to fix this misunderstanding, Lev decides. He has to be responsible, after all, if he wants to be the future Ace.

“Oh, it’s fine,” he says with all the airiness he can muster. “It’s not like I’m hitting on Kenma-san or anything. I know Captain-san and Kenma-san are already in love with each other. I just want someone to toss for me. Besides, I already have Yaku-senpai!”

 _And because I already have Yaku-senpai, I’m not going to steal Kenma-san, so Captain-san has nothing to worry about! I’m not a threat!_  Lev mentally adds, feeling rather proud of his reasoning skills.

_CRASH!_

Kuroo drops his water bottle on the floor. He doesn’t even fumble with it; it just falls from his hands like he forgot he was supposed to be holding it. It sprays water everywhere all around it, but the captain looks like that’s the last thing on his mind right now. He stares at Lev, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. His hands move weakly, like he’s trying to summon words but he can’t find them.

Oops, did Lev say something wrong? It wouldn’t be the first time.

“What—did I get something wrong?” he asks awkwardly. “They  _are_ soulmates, right? Like, the lovey-dovey ones.”

 _Oh wait, didn’t Kenma-san say Kuroo-san wasn’t even aware of his own feelings for Kenma-san?_  Lev belatedly realises. Oops.

The rest of the team refuses to look at him, Kenma and Kuroo, and they slowly scoot away from them. The tension and awkwardness in the gym is pretty much a tangible bubble around them. Lev wonders if he’s just said something everyone else took a silent oath not to say out loud.

Kuroo quickly recovers from his apparent shock, though. “Yaku, would you be a dear and take Lev aside for some, ah,  _special training_  for a while?”

“I’m not your wife, Kuroo,” Yaku grumbles. “Oi, first-year! Get your ass over here! Since you’ve still got so much energy left, go do some diving receives."

Lev perks up. Yay, more time to spend with Yaku-senpai! He forgets the awkwardness of the previous situation and exuberantly follows Yaku out of the main gym to another one of the smaller gyms near it.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Yaku asks, tapping his foot impatiently when they enter the smaller gym. “You heard me, go do some diving receives!”

“W-wait.” Lev’s brain slowly moves past ‘Yay, alone time with Yaku-senpai!’ to ‘Oh wait, I don’t know how he feels about me oh shit oh shit’.

“Wait for what?” Yaku shakes his head. “That was a really dumb thing to say back there, you know. Kuroo and Kenma’s relationship and their respective feelings for each other are their own business, even if it was taking Kuroo a god-awful amount of time to realise his own feelings. You shouldn’t have tactlessly blurted out their feelings just like that.”

Lev hangs his head in shame. “I know, I know. But it’s so obvious they loved each other but they weren’t progressing—like, romantically—and I thought Kuroo-san was jealous ‘cause I kept talking to Kenma-san, even though he hasn’t really made a move on Kenma-san, and I don’t know maybe I just wanted them to be together ‘cause at least they know where they stand with each other even if Kuroo-san is completely oblivious to it!” He blinks in surprise; he definitely didn't expect to sound as bitter as he did.

Yaku frowns. “Why do I get the feeling we’re not talking about Kuroo and Kenma anymore?”

And it’s like a gigantic bubble of pent-up emotions has finally burst and is spilling forth out of Lev.

“It’s just—I really, really love you, Yaku-senpai!” Lev cries out. He balls his fists up so tightly the nails dig into his palms. “I really do! Yaku-senpai is so cool and so cute and I just want to spend my whole life with Yaku-senpai! But… but I don’t know if you love me back, or if you even like me, or if you’re just putting up with me just ‘cause destiny says we’re meant to be. And even though I’ve heard stories of incidents like that, I’m not sure how that would work ‘cause we’re, like,  _soulmates_ and I’m pretty sure we can’t be platonic soulmates ‘cause I have very romantic feelings for you!”

Yaku gapes silently at Lev. For once when talking to Lev, he seems completely lost for words. A bright red flush spreads across his face, and Lev—even in his whirlwind of emotions and nervousness and fear of getting rejected by the one he loves—still can’t help but find it immensely endearing.

Wait. Yaku-senpai not knowing what to say is a bad sign, right? Oh no, did Lev mess up again?

Lev takes a step back. “Oh no, was—was that too much? Did I say too much? Or… was everything I did too much?” he asks in a small voice. “Like, the flowers, the ice cream—was all that too much? Did I scare Yaku-senpai? I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean—”

“Wait, you Russian idiot.” Yaku, to Lev’s shock, reaches out and grabs his hand. He pulls him closer, and Lev stumbles towards Yaku until he’s so close to Yaku he could peek down his shirt if he wanted to (but he won’t, of course, because that’s weird and he doesn’t have Yaku’s consent). “Look, stop—stop overthinking and worrying about all this shit. I—I actually, er, really like you too.” He bites his lip. “It’s just that I—if you laugh at me, I’m gonna kick your ass.”

“I won’t, promise!”

Yaku measures him with a look before continuing. “Look, it sounds stupid in hindsight but I… I was actually a skeptic about this whole notion of, like, soulmates. I thought the whole notion that a random voice in my dreams could  _really_ tell me who the love of my life was supposed to be was bullshit. Yeah, I know that’s how our world has been since the beginning of time but still—I just thought it was bullshit for the longest time, okay? But…” He takes a step even closer to Yaku, his chest pressing lightly against Lev’s navel. “But then I met you, and then you started doing all that stupid courtship shit, walking with me to school and buying me flowers, and I got to know you better—and... I don’t doubt anymore,” he says in an uncharacteristically soft tone. He looks up at Lev with an equally soft smile. “I don’t doubt the voice in my dreams anymore. I really love you too, Lev.”

And—whoa, Lev’s heart is pounding so hard he’s surprised it hasn’t shattered his ribs yet. Yaku’s whole speech—it sounds like something straight out of his favourite rom-coms/dramas, and everything in him turns to mush. Yaku-senpai loves him. Yaku-senpai _loves_  him! Yaku-senpai isn’t just putting up with him, because he  _loves_ him! Lev feels like he’s ascended to the top of the world, and nothing can drag him down.

“Aww, why didn’t you say so earlier, Yaku-senpai?” Lev says, poking Yaku’s nose. “You’re always so straightforward about everything else.”

Yaku scowls at him. “Just kiss me already, you behemoth.”

Another shot of adrenaline zips through Lev. “For—for real?” he chokes out. “Yaku-senpai, you never—”

“Shut up, I know. I want to do things differently today. So, are you gonna kiss me or what?”

Lev can’t say no—not that he’d want to, anyway. He’s waited for far too long to refuse an opportunity like this. His other hand cups Yaku’s warm face, and he leans down for the kiss. It’s gentle, surprisingly gentle, yet Lev feels like he has been struck by lightning in the best way possible. Even more heat courses through him when Yaku’s nails rake lightly down the slope of his back. It… it feels nice, especially when Yaku does it again. It’s starting to feel a little  _too_ nice, and Yaku must have picked up on it, because he breaks away from the kiss and stops running his fingernails down Lev’s back.

“Aww, you ended it just as it was getting good!” Lev pouts.

“Yeah, I didn’t want it to get too good so soon,” Yaku says with an air of dismissiveness that his red face contradicts. “It’s too soon for  _that_. You’d get carried away if I didn’t stop.”

“Ha, Yaku-senpai really is a tsundere!”

Yaku kicks Lev’s ass, though without his usual heat. “Stop with the tsundere business, first-year! Go do some diving receives!”

“Fine, fine, Yaku-senpai is so strict.”

But it doesn’t matter to Lev how many times Yaku kicks his ass and orders him to do diving receives—he’s just happy that Yaku finally believes in him and their forever.  _Finally._

**Author's Note:**

> FYI: gloxinia flowers represent love at first sight. nice going, Lev xD
> 
> there's more where this one came from on [my tumblr :D](https://hqissodelicate.tumblr.com/)
> 
> thanks for reading!


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